As we all anxiously await the end of crazy quarantine and a return to normal life, here’s a look back at an article Dr. Jen wrote all about her favorite pathogen (well, one of her favorites!), influenza!
Fun with feline flu: Can cats get influenza?
May 2, 2019
While influenza has been around since the 1500s,1 the virus caught the public’s attention in a whole new way recently when the pandemic of 2009 emerged (H1N1, anyone?). Prior to “swine ’09,” bird flu was the big fear, giving us all a legitimate reason to look askance at seagulls and grackles, but interest seemed to fizzle after several years.
Avian influenza is certainly still a threat, as we saw with the 2014-2015 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak that spread from the Pacific Northwest all the way to Iowa-still the largest foreign animal disease outbreak in the history of the United States. Moreover, a handful of people still die every year of avian influenza infections in Asia.2
And up until 2004, a coughing dog only meant an annoying bout with kennel cough was likely. These days that cough could be a sign of anything from Bordetella to influenza to the catchall canine infectious respiratory disease complex.
Cats and influenza
But what about cats? Can they get influenza? The short answer is “yes.”3,4 The long answer is “sort of” and “it depends.”
Read the rest of the story, here…DVM360: Fun with Feline Flu